Alert!

The kittens are mobile....
I repeat the Kittens are mobile.
Please watch and use extreme caution when physically moving though the living room.

At 20 days old the kittens decided to start exploring. Their mother, Cali, moved them under the couch (possibly thinking that would keep them contained and her sane). now when you walk int the room you have to be extremely careful because inevitably, one of the kids will come toddling out, mewing all the way.
The biggest surprise for me is the baby of the group, Spirit, our little wonder, was the first to set off and explore. She will range up to 5 feet or so from the safety of the couch and acts like she has no fear. She is almost always the first one out and when she mews the all clear the other 4 follow.
I'm on a business trip this week, I figure they might very well be the thundering herd by the time I return. Don't worry, the roomate is there all week.
As of Saturday we have 4 homes. Artemis, one of the orange and white tabbies is the only one who needs a good owner.

back again

Boy have I been negligent on my blogging this month. It has been a busy two weeks.
The kittens are doing really well (new photos to follow soon). All five are healthy and named so we can keep track of them and we have 2 definite homes and 2 possible homes so far.
From oldest to youngest:
Atlas - orange and white tabby with the wide white stripe. Atlas will cry loudly for mom if he is picked up or if she tries to get out of the nest box for a few. Atlas held the weight of the other four kittens in and is the biggest of the bunch so we thought the name was appropriate.
Spirit -- the smallest of the bunch. Calico with a couple light stripes on her head and a cow spot pattern on her back. Spirit needed some help breathing when she was born and is smaller than the rest. Her weight is starting to catch up though. She has a really sweet disposition and loves to be held and cuddled.
Artemis -- the other orange and white with the thin white neck stripe. Artemis is a lot like his brother, just an ounce or two smaller.
Vision -- the other calico. Vision was the first to open her eyes and is the curious one in the bunch, already ranging away from her mom a little further than the others. Also very sweet and seems to be figuring out the walking thing first. Darker calico pattern on her back almost like a brown and black quilt.
Spitfire - the last out and came out with attitude. She speaks her mind and gets her way and is almost as big as the boys. Spitfire is a tortoise shell tiger striped calico.
Erie has been doing its regular weather switch-a-roo. 70 degrees on Tuesday the 13th and then a foot of snow for St. Patrick's day and a high in the low 20's.
On Tuesday, I talked the roommate into going for a bike ride. We pulled out the bicycles, pumped up the tires and took off. At the end of our road, right in the intersection, the roomie took a header off the bike when the front breaks locked and landed on her face. She broke her nose, which was just fixed a year and a half ago from previous breaks. So, off to the hospital in the ambulance we go.
She is ok, the break was clean and no major concussion or other issues. We also learned how great our neighbors actually are. Yes, there were the rubberneckers, but 99% of the people driving by or walking, stopped and asked if we needed help. One lady ran out of her suv to give the roomie kleenexes since the bridge of her nose was bleeding, the neighbor ran out with wet washcloths and stored our bikes when the ambulance arrived, a third neighbor turned out to be one of the local volunteer paramedics. Jim K. was a wonderful man in a beautiful business suit and not afraid to get down on the muddy side of the road with a great sense of humor and a quick eye to help.
The roomie didn't loose her sense of humor either. In the ambulance the driver stated he was going to run without lights and siren since she wasn't in imminent danger of death. She replied, "I'm paying all this money for this ride...I want the bells and whistles." so he obliged for a few blocks.
And here she was arguing with me that she didn't want to bring her id on a bike ride...
These are the highlights of the past two weeks. There is soooo much more but I'll have to catch up later.

Crazy Frog!

want a good laugh? check out the Crazy Frog videos. I'm especially a fan of Axel f and We Are the Champions.

HAPPY B-DAY!

Happy Birthday Curious George!! From a ball of fluff to a 13lb sleek mewing machine. Special kitty treats just for you tonight and a brand new mousie!

Sad Cat

Poor Curious George...
George's birthday is on Thursday (Happy 1 year!!!!) and poor George is trying to figure out what is going on in the house. 1 year ago Thursday, George came into this world as one of three kittens in Cali's first litter. He and his sister, Matilda survived while the third kitten had passed before anyone got home (Cali had the cats while we were at work). Our friend was responsible for accidentally letting Cali get outside which lead to Cali getting pregnant and stuck 20 feet up in a tree and when the kittens were born our friend agreed to take one. Low and behold, the friend ended up becoming the roommate and George got to stay in the house with his mom Cali and his idol, Charles. This means it took a lot of work to break George of the habit of suckling on his mother when he was wwwaaayyy too old to be doing so and it also means George is still to this day rather attached to his mom. He is also a very vocal cat. His nickname is Meeper because he will mew from one end of the house to the other when he wants attention.
So, Saturday the Kittens were born and now Cali is consumed with the duties of a new momma cat and is basically ignoring everyone else including George.
Because of this George has been very pathetic. Mewing from my room to the kitchen to the living room to the hallway and back and actually being quite cuddly. He seems to be getting better by the day but George finally realized he's a big boy now and doesn't actually need his mom.
I look forward to a few weeks from now when his little half-siblings are up and running and he gets to be the big brother being pestered by the herd of 5 but in the mean time he's getting some extra love from the humans in the house by his mewing on demand.

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey, Hockey, Hockey

I was so excited about the kittens I forgot to mention the rest of my Saturday. I got to go to a hockey game! I generally try to make one game a year. Unfortunately, I live 2 hours (and a ton of confusing side streets) from my favorite team the Pittsburgh Penguins however, Erie has an Ontario Hockey League team (OHL) called the Erie Otters. The OHL is one step down from the NHL and a great place to watch up and coming potential stars. For 15.50 I got to sit at the glass so close to the players I could see them sweating and only six seats over from the Otters' bench. It ended up being $15 well spent. The Otters haven't been so hot this year and they started the game against the Oshua Generals (every team in the OHL but 2 are in Canada) with the backup goalie in the net. By the end of the first period the Otters were down 4-1. Starting the second period the regular goalie Justin Garay stepped in. Boy what a difference that made. Tied 4-4 by the end of the second and the Otters took the lead to make it 5-4 in the third before the Generals tied it up.
For the OHL a tie means a 5 minute overtime period, first team to scores, wins. Well, not score by the end of overtime so into the shootout we go. It took six tries back and forth with 3 amazing saves by Justin Garay (just a few feet away from my seat) for the Otters to win 6-5. Plus there were two big fights. Nothing is funnier in hockey than watching two grown men try to throw punches at each other while on ice skates. Physics requires them to hold on to each other with their left hands while swinging with the right. This generally means they spin in a counter-clockwise circle and don't do much damage to each other. And both parties end up with a 5 for fighting penalty (5 minutes in the penalty box that off set each other so both teams remain at full strength).
All in all, great fun and rather stress relieving. Yes it is a violent sport but I enjoy it none the less. Let's face it, if there were no tackling in football and no crashes in NASCAR, no one would watch. Same with hockey, no checks into the boards and no fights would make it a boring spectator sport.

KITTENS!!!!!

We had 5 kittens!!!! my little 6 lb cat had 5, count them, 5 healthy happy little furballs. 2 orange and white tabbies, 2 calicos and one tiger stripped calico with a cross pattern on the back and a halo on the head.
Cali decided Saturday morning at 1030 was a good time to start and actually used her crate and not the bed or closet or other locations she had seemed to be eyeballing for the past week. We only had one slow starter, the second kitten out, a calico, followed the first very quickly and momma cat was having a hard time cleaning them both. With a little rub and TLC and the calico was rearing to go. All 5 kittens are being very well cared for by momma Cali and should be ready to adopt by April 28th. So far we have a good home for one and 2 potential homes for 2 more. If you know anyone in the Erie area looking to adopt, send them my way!
Charles (our resident lazy, oversized king cat) did a great job guarding the door and George, Cali's son from last year seemed a bit confused by the whole ordeal but both boys are treating Cali with a lot of respect and space.

Disturbing News Story

Stories like this just confound me...
Your unhappy with your relationship with a girl so you mail her a severed kitten head?!?!!?!
May his jail term be long and unpleasant.
Police: Pittsburgh man mailed kitten head to ex-girlfriendPITTSBURGH
(AP) -- A man accused of mailing the severed head of a kitten to his ex-girlfriend was ordered to stand trial on stalking and animal-cruelty charges.Benjamin Gregory, 30, of Pittsburgh, allegedly sent the gift-wrapped package in January because he was unhappy that the relationship had ended, police said. His ex-girlfriend is an attorney who volunteers at animal shelters.The woman had filed for a protection-from-abuse order against Gregory. He was jailed, but she said he kept calling her until she asked jail officials to block his calls. When he was released in December, she said, he started calling again.On Jan. 28, the woman received the kitten head along with a note that read, ''I love u, your Ben,'' she testified at a preliminary hearing Thursday.Gregory's attorney, Phil Melograne, contends the woman has been harassing Gregory, and suggested she orchestrated the kitten head incident herself.A district judge rejected that argument and ordered Gregory back to jail to await trial. The judge reduced an animal cruelty charge to a lesser summary offense because medical evidence showed the kitten was dead before its head was cut off.

Kittens

My cat Cali is one seriously miserable animal right now. She is 2 years old and not fixed (I know, its terrible, I should have had her fixed ages ago however, I've only been her owner for half that time.)
She had one litter of kittens on March 8 of last year after a friend let her run out the door. We've since bought a new door and I thought all was well. There were plans to get her fixed but, due to treatments for skin issues, the vet kept delaying.
This fall I replaced the sub-flooring in the laundry room and did a rough cut in the floor around two pipes figuring I would place the finishing piece in when we put in the new flooring. The small hole is behind the dryer, stuffed with insulation and I thought, too small for the cats.
At the end of December I started noticing muddy footprints in the kitchen and I couldn't figure out where they were coming from. All 3 cats were present and accounted for, the paw prints didn't smell, I was at a loss. After about a week, there was one really clear set of prints when I got home. They lead from the top of the dryer to the food dish and then to the top of the bearded dragon enclosure where my darling cat Cali was resting.
I moved the dryer to find the insulation in a pile in the corner and her collar laying by the hole. She removed the insulation, climbed into the hole, tore the sub insulation, got under the trailer and dug out under the new skirting all to return in plenty of time for me to get home from work. If it wasn't for the muddy paws, I would have never known.
All this effort for a few minutes with the neighborhood Tom.
Now she is really pregnant, to the point where I can feel little kittie paws poking back at me when I rub her belly. She's due any day now and I'm hoping for a really healthy litter. The last time there were 3 kittens but only 2 survived. She has a nesting place, has been eating plenty of kitten food and hopefully the little puff balls will be healthy and happy. Then we can find them good homes and Momma cat, Cali can look forward to having the parts removed so she won't go through this again.
Though, as I pointed out to her, she went through a lot of effort to get this way this time.
BTW, the hole is plugged...no more outside forays.

Adventures in Dentistry Part II

You would think in 13 years they could have improved the taste of that tooth paste/polish they use....eeeuuucckkk!
My teeth are clean, it wasn't painful and I think I might go back in a more timely manner...like 6 months not 13 years.